Thank you! I will not ask for your secrets then. I do not want to know them. So, regardless of what happens or what I am saying... thinking... do not tell me any of your secrets! I am sorry, but I am not the right one to bear this. I will find a new bearer for you. Or two? And I do not want to trade for it. I will give it away freely. You obviously know who I am, so you will also know this now. Will this communication still work, when I am seperated from the stone?

"Guys, as it looks, I will have to find someone willing to take this stone now, so I won't be able to come with you, I'm afraid."

<< @Papa [Siren] You should never have given me that. How did you get that stupid idea, anyways? Could you explain to the twins what happened? I'm going back to L.A. >>

Watching the odd disjointed conversations play out, Zihao moves to stand closer to the Papa and Siren. His voice is clear and direct as he tries to engage them.

"What is going on? What are you talking about? Some answers please and I don't know who you think you're going to find out here other than us or how you intend to get back. We paid for a ride here and back, not an on call shuttle service."

He gestures to the obvious wilderness surroundings as he speaks.

"I don't know if I can tell you more. Ask him!" With that, Siren nods in Papa's direction.

"I have to find the quickest way back to L.A. now. Sorry, but there is no alternative. What did the ride here cost?"

"Unfortnuately, there is only one ride out of here and back to LA. As much as I can understand your possible anxiety over this matter, there is no amount of money that can replace what you intend to consume. I'm sure you can understand that we would all be stranded here if you left?"

Papa stands dumbfounded at the last few moments and Siren's reaction to Harvey. He is taken aback both emotionally and physically by taking a step back from her.
<<@Siren [Papa] This was given to us to assist in the quests. It required that I pass it on. What in the world are you so upset about?>>

"Listen." Looking to the twins. "Perhaps this is something more up your alley. Harvey is kind of mystical matrix of sorts. He wants a new host. He was given to us to support us in the quests." He grimaces, frustrated.

Taking a moment to look over each of them in the astral and bidding Gen to do the same to see what could be gleaned from that.

"I still feel like there is only half the story being told here. Why her adverse reaction and physical change? Where does this mystical matrix come from? Who gave it to us to support us in the quests and why does it need a host? You seem to be glossing over..."

"...most of the pertinent details. What are the costs of utilizing this, aside from the obvious physical reaction that seems so undesirable. We're going to need more information before we agree to take anything you're both so eager to get rid of."

Zian was firm but calm, no animosity or hostility in his features. He whispered a silent prayer in his head that he'd put the life detection spell into the sustaining focus...it would have been difficult to concentrate on both maintaining it and the conversation at hand without it.

<< @Papa [Siren] It knows who I am! If you didn't tell it... I did... and I sure did not do that knowingly. Also, have you not seen those shadows? Do you want me to run around like that? You are lucky that I am such a peaceful nature... others would kill you for this! >>

"I will not leave you here, stranded, don't worry. But maybe they could take me to a nearby place, from where I could make it back. I will pay them for the extra trip. Otherwise, I will go on my own. Either way, I cannot continue here."

Papa looks to Siren still not understanding the hostility, but his own voice growing edgy. "Just give me the fragging thing back then." He pauses, beginning to fume. "Really? Kill me over it? What the frag is it? Its all just freaking magic shit!" His knuckles whiten as his own grip tightens on the assault rifle.

Watching the tension mount between the two runners and the hearing the mention of death threats, he shakes his head and locks eyes with his brother once before speaking.

"Enough already! If violence starts my brother and I will be the only ones walking away from it so find another way to resolve your differences. Before this rift I would have trusted you to return."

He looks to Siren at that part.

"But whatever this rock did has shattered trust between you and the troll here so either it was a true and deep violation or I overestimated your loyalty to one another - either way it doesn't leave me inclined to extend you trust. This region is quarantined as I understand it so finding rides in and out are challenging at best. We had the help of a specialist to secure the transportation we got and even they need time to retrieve us suggesting even for professionals its a tricky proposition."

He pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing.

"So let's see if we can solve this here and now. This Harvey was hosted by Papa and has since passed to Siren, who cannot abide being a host to the point of dropping this job and her possibly former friend. Why? What has happened by being a host? Can we fix that?"

"No threat. What I said to him was: You are lucky that I am such a peaceful nature... others would kill you for this!"

"What he did in his naivety probably ranks upon the top 10 worst things you could do to someone. And while I do realize it was not on purpose, it did happen, and I have to take the consequences now. We cannot fix this here. I need to find another willing host, two actually, but before that can happen, I need to do some research on the matter. I'm very sorry, that this happened, but it isn't my fault at all. How could I have expected this? Either way, I am not going to waste any time with this and I am not going into any territory with wild and unpredictable magic in this state. I need to get rid of this before I am fully tainted. As I said, I will go on my own, if necessary. I'm confident, that I can make it."

Looking doubtful Zihao replies.

"Can you hide the changes done to you? If not, then I am pretty sure the military is going to shoot anything that looks odd that comes out of this region. While you are a skilled and shrewd talker I think they might be able to shoot you before you can bring those skills to bear. If spirits indeed become unstable here it seems reasonable they would have guards that aren't taken in by simple magical concealment. Did you have another way to remain unseen?"

The troll glares at the twin for a moment with the additional, perceived threats leveled, allowing everyone to speak in turn, keeping his own silence.

As Siren speaks, he listens to her frustration and dwells not only on his own complicity in it, but his unintentional architecture of it. In a small voice, especially for the troll, he says, "Wait." pausing to gain the attention of everyone, he then adds, "Just wait. We are doing this for the Huntsman. He's some sort of powerful mage; D'zan works for him now." He looks to Siren, "Look, I still don't understand the issue with Harvey, but this is your area not mine. If he's some sort of Trojan, then surely the Huntsman will fix it... I would imagine he'd be a lot more amiable if we had the Heart." Pausing to let that sink in, he then continues, "So let's say we finish this out, get the Huntsman to fix it and laugh about it with few drinks over a really bad choice sometime a long time from now?"

"I do not know him and I do not work for him. Why should he help me? Especially, why should he help me for something you are hired to bring to him, already?"

Siren shrugs.

"But, sure, contact him and ask him whether he can and will do something about it."

"It's really more of a consignment hiring for me, perhaps the twins have a deal but personally I'm here because this is new shit that looks jazz in my P2.0 feed..." He drops his Alpha on the sling and swings his pack around. Reaching in, he pulls out the mirror, sandwiched between a pair of polypropylene sheets protecting it. He stares into the mirror, willing a connection.... and hoping it works properly.

Team

The mirror grows cloudy and dark. Looking closely, you can see a hide of some kind pressed against the glass seemingly from within the mirror. It pulls aside and the Huntsman is seated at his desk. His skin is the mottled gray of a storm filled sky. Crackling lightning flashes from time to time along his skin. The figure is lithe and muscled, beneath a loose fitting leather vest. A slender tentacle reaches up from below the desk and turns the page of a book. The writing is hard to make out, but the script is crisply hand-written in a runic alphabet.

"Have you the heart?"

A small look of surprise crosses his face at the appearance of their "employer" in the mirror.

"We do not my lord but an issue has arisen that threatens to bring this all to crashing halt. I must apologize for disturbing you but the entity that was residing with the troll has now moved to this woman and she now cannot continue to do your work in this world while it lives within her. We sought your counsel on how to remove the entity and restore her to her former appearance."

He looks to his brother as he speaks trying to restrain his eagerness at a new experience and diving into the deep end of this pool. This was something deep, dark and dangerous - it made his pulse quicken.

"None here have been able to adequately explain what it is and how hosting it affects one as a host. If we could know more then perhaps another here can be host to it. We seek your guidance in the hopes we can continue on the appointed task."

Team

"Well spoken, Flesh-binder. My vassal warned heard the words that were exchanged before the oracle. They brokered for information from one who collects secrets and hears all that passes within the shadows and dark."

The Huntsman reaches out. A large ledger, almost a meter tall slides across his desk. He opens it, flipping through pages with hundreds of different handwriting types in a myriad of languages. Placing his hand upon one of the pages, his gaze shifts as if he was looking at something a few hand spans above the book.

"The oracle is known as Those-who-walk-in-Darkness, a consortium of beings who have seen several of the ages in your world and others. A mindworm travels with the mortals, sharing in their senses. It has no direct control of your actions, as long as you willingly carry it or if you know none of the secrets from the oracle. Transferring to a new host, is a simple act of focused will. The original barter was to carry it as long as the knowledge existed in the mortal realm. This would suggest that as long as the chain of knowledge from one telling to the next exists, the mindworm may continue to exist in your world. Other barters of knowledge may be made with them--trading secrets that have not come to the oracle for knowledge that they have gleaned.

"As with many creatures of the dark realms, breaking the pact can have dire consequences for a host."

Friday, August 12, 2072@19:04

Happy for the twin stepping up, Papa listens the to the exchange. He weighs the words, reflecting on the momentarily. "So I was supposed to the only bearer then pass it on to another outside this realm... world... plane?"

Siren looks at the mirror and listens to the exchange of words. As it looks, Papa's employer also employed the twins.

"Does this... Mindworm... know everything the host knows?"

Team

"You both appear to have taken on forces you do not understand. Service to me will make you an unfit host, and sever your connection with the oracle as soon as a fitting host can be found, if that is what you wish. Specifically, no, I do not believe it wished you to pass it on to creatures beyond your realm unless to a place it could not reach. The oracle wishes to expand and travel beyond its limitation into the lands and hours of light.

"The mindworm may know what the host knows, or it may know only secrets that have been whispered in shadows and darkness. To find out would be to ask it, but the answer would render the question useless to you I think."

"Based on the arrangement as I understand it, Papa could still ask the question. He's already taken on the bargain, and there's nothing to be gained or lost until there's the question of a new host."

Brock looks around to the others" we going to make camp here and talk about all of this or can we get to crackin on we're exposed here like this."